Welcome to the website for The Elstree Project. The Elstree Project is an on-going oral history project, created in partnership between Howard Berry of the University of Hertfordshire's Film and Television degree course and volunteer group Elstree Screen Heritage. Over the past year, veterans of Elstree film and TV have been coming to the University to be interviewed about their careers and life in the film industry.
Please note that this website is run independently of the University, and is not officially endorsed by them.
The interviews showcase the rich and fascinating history of the various film and television studios which have existed in Elstree and Borehamwood; telling the stories of how some of the world's most well-known and best-loved film and television shows were made, from the people who helped make them.
We love all the stories told by the stars and the directors, but we want to tell the stories that you don't normally get to hear. The stories of the props painters, the cameramen, the stills photographers, and the riggers. In the course of making these interviews we have discovered some hilarious tales about what it really was like to work with Roger Moore on The Saint, how the backdrops were matted in for Ivanhoe, and what Elizabeth Taylor's response was when one of the crew suggested her diamond engagement ring was from Woolworths! We have found out about how Darth Vader's costume was painted for Star Wars, the craft of cinematography from the cameraman on Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and just quite how much attention you need to pay to continuity from the person responsible for continuity on The Shining. And we also have discovered some amazing stories that no one has ever heard, including a heartbreaking story about the temporary closure of Elstree Studios in the 1990s. We want to share these stories with you.
The Elstree Project will interest fans of film and television from the 1950s to the present day.
Our website is just getting started and there is so much more content to come, but in the meantime you can follow us on twitter, or watch a montage of some of the interviews we have conducted this year on the promo page.
Update: July 1st: We now have a full interview with Ron Punter talking about his work on The Shining online, and an extract from Kelvin Pike's interview relating to the same film. Both interviews are available by clicking the Interviews link at the top of each page.
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